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“C’etait un Rendez-Vous,” the nine-minute film of a car speeding through Paris at dawn, with only the car’s revving engine as soundtrack, is an auto cult classic. Produced in 1976 by the French director Claude Lelouche, the film has inspired numerous remakes and spoofs, including Nissan’s promo for the 350Z several years ago.

Jay Leno’s “The Fast and the Famous,” Mr. Leno drives a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG through “L.A.’s hidden racetrack,” a circuit that starts in the Hollywood Hills, carves down a canyon road, runs through Sunset Boulevard and into Beverly Hills and back up the canyons.

Jeremy Hart directed “The Fast and the Famous,” having worked with Mr. Leno for 10 years. He explained that the project started when he asked Mr. Leno if Los Angeles had a track similar to the course in “Rendezvous.” Mr. Leno rattled off “three or four potential circuits of America’s second largest city — including one mammoth 50-mile stage across the Malibu Hills.”

The film features the “American Nurburgring – almost 13 miles, with as many twists and turns.”

Mulholland Drive up in the hills that split Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley is a legendary road, where actors like Steve McQueen and James Coburn would race. “All the thrills and chills of a Hollywood movie, because most of the Hollywood movies were shot up here.”

The video was shot over three days, just before the late-night show wars. Three cameras were used.

As in the original “Rendezvous,” the engine plays an integral part in the film. The sound in this film was not doctored. The SLS’s ”rasp is Hollywood sex siren.”

Leno’s words are the signposts on this circuit. The combination is auditory auto heaven.